Saturday, March 13, 2010

Lesson 65 Painting with a Moon

One can find lots of horrible paintings and photographs where the artist tries to incorporate a moon in the work. The moon can be so eye catching that it is important to consider carefully the moon's size and position in relation to other shapes in the painting to create balance. Another possibility is to keep the moon subtle so that it is only found secondarily in the painting. Our goal in this exercise was to come up with a pleasing composition which included a moon.

MaryAnn found a bold design where a large moon is balanced by a bird shape. She washed over the upper portion of the moon to modify the circle shape.

Herching worked with a Yosemite subject where the moon was kept subtle and the focus is on the waterfall.

In Kazuyo's piece the moon is balanced by the amorphous light shape.

Rita created a design where the moon and it's reflection is balanced by the boat.

About this site

I am a professional artist working and teaching in northern California. This site is a combination of exercises from the workshops and classes I teach as well as thoughts about my own watercolor paintings. My work can be seen at www.floyzittin.com